Formation of nitroxide radicals from secondary amines and peracids: A peroxyl radical oxidation pathway derived from electron spin resonance detection and density functional theory calculation

Highly efficient activation of peracetic acid by nano-CuO for carbamazepine degradation in wastewater: The significant role of H2O2 and evidence of acetylperoxy radical contribution

Peracetic acid (PAA)-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has attracted increasing attentions towards contaminant degradation in the wastewater treatment. Herein, we report the efficient activation of PAA by nano-CuO (nCuO/PAA) to degrade carbamazepine (CBZ) for the first time. Rapid degradation of CBZ was observed in the nCuO/PAA system at neutral initial pH. A new scavenging experiment with Mn²⁺ as a specific scavenger was developed to distinguish the dominant role of CH₃C(O)OO^● for CBZ degradation in the nCuO/PAA process. The oxidation of CBZ by CH₃C(O)OO^● was verified to proceed via the electrons transfer, and the acute and chronic toxicity of the transformation products was significantly reduced. The efficient activation of PAA by nCuO was found to be realized through continuous conversion of Cu(II) to Cu(I), which was significantly boosted by co-existing H₂O₂. The nCuO/PAA process was slightly affected by the water matrices, and maintained high efficiency in real water samples. The findings obtained in this study provide new insights into the catalytic formation of CH₃C(O)OO^● from PAA and facilitate the development and application of PAA-based AOPs in wastewater treatment.

Modeling the Kinetics of UV/Peracetic Acid Advanced Oxidation Process

Peracetic acid combined with UV (i.e., UV/PAA) has emerged as a novel advanced oxidation process (AOP) for water disinfection and micropollutant degradation, but kinetic modeling for this AOP was lacking. In this study, a comprehensive model was developed to elucidate the reaction mechanisms and simulate reaction kinetics of UV/PAA process. By combining radical scavenging experiments and kinetic modeling, accurate quantum yield of PAA under UV₂₅₄ (Φ = 0.88 ± 0.04 mol-Einstein^-1) was determined via simultaneously quenching ^•OH and CH₃C(O)O^• with 2,4-hexadiene. The comparison between experimental observations and model predictions over a wide range of conditions allowed estimation of the rate constants of PAA with ^•OH (k_^•OH/PAA = 1.3 ± 0.2 × 10⁹ M^-1 s^-1) and HO₂^• (k_HO2^•/PAA ≤ 5 × 10² M^-1 s^-1) with good accuracy. With derived Φ, k_^•OH/PAA and k_HO2^•/PAA, the kinetic model accurately predicts PAA decay under UV₂₅₄ photolysis across varying PAA and H₂O₂ concentrations and water pH (5.8-7.2). Meanwhile, the model reveals that UV/PAA generates a lower ^•OH concentration than UV/H₂O₂ at equivalent oxidant concentrations, with CH₃C(O)OO^• as the most abundant carbon-centered radical. This study significantly improves the knowledge of reactive species generation and reaction kinetics and mechanisms under UV/PAA, and provides a useful kinetic model for this AOP in water treatment.

The Adductomics of Isolevuglandins: Oxidation of IsoLG Pyrrole Intermediates Generates Pyrrole⁻Pyrrole Crosslinks and Lactams

Isoprostane endoperoxides generated by free radical-induced oxidation of arachidonates, and prostaglandin endoperoxides generated through enzymatic cyclooxygenation of arachidonate, rearrange nonenzymatically to isoprostanes and a family of stereo and structurally isomeric γ-ketoaldehyde seco-isoprostanes, collectively known as isolevuglandins (isoLGs). IsoLGs are stealthy toxins, and free isoLGs are not detected in vivo. Rather, covalent adducts are found to incorporate lysyl ε-amino residues of proteins or ethanolamino residues of phospholipids. In vitro studies have revealed that adduction occurs within seconds and is uniquely prone to cause protein–protein crosslinks. IsoLGs accelerate the formation of the type of amyloid beta oligomers that have been associated with neurotoxicity. Under air, isoLG-derived pyrroles generated initially are readily oxidized to lactams and undergo rapid oxidative coupling to pyrrole–pyrrole crosslinked dimers, and to more highly oxygenated derivatives of those dimers. We have now found that pure isoLG-derived pyrroles, which can be generated under anoxic conditions, do not readily undergo oxidative coupling. Rather, dimer formation only occurs after an induction period by an autocatalytic oxidative coupling. The stable free-radical TEMPO abolishes the induction period, catalyzing rapid oxidative coupling. The amine N-oxide TMAO is similarly effective in catalyzing the oxidative coupling of isoLG pyrroles. N-acetylcysteine abolishes the generation of pyrrole–pyrrole crosslinks. Instead pyrrole-cysteine adducts are produced. Two unified single-electron transfer mechanisms are proposed for crosslink and pyrrole-cysteine adduct formation from isoLG-pyrroles, as well as for their oxidation to lactams and hydroxylactams.

UV/Peracetic Acid for Degradation of Pharmaceuticals and Reactive Species Evaluation

Peracetic acid (PAA) is a widely used disinfectant, and combined UV light with PAA (i.e., UV/PAA) can be a novel advanced oxidation process for elimination of water contaminants. This study is among the first to evaluate the photolysis of PAA under UV irradiation (254 nm) and degradation of pharmaceuticals by UV/PAA. PAA exhibited high quantum yields (Φ_254 nm = 1.20 and 2.09 mol·Einstein^-1 for the neutral (PAA⁰) and anionic (PAA^-) species, respectively) and also showed scavenging effects on hydroxyl radicals (k_{^•OH/PAA⁰} = (9.33 ± 0.3) × 10⁸ M^-1·s^-1 and k_^•OH/PAA^- = (9.97 ± 2.3) × 10⁹ M^-1·s^-1). The pharmaceuticals were persistent with PAA alone but degraded rapidly by UV/PAA. The contributions of direct photolysis, hydroxyl radicals, and other radicals to pharmaceutical degradation under UV/PAA were systematically evaluated. Results revealed that ^•OH was the primary radical responsible for the degradation of carbamazepine and ibuprofen by UV/PAA, whereas CH₃C(═O)O^• and/or CH₃C(═O)O₂^• contributed significantly to the degradation of naproxen and 2-naphthoxyacetic acid by UV/PAA in addition to ^•OH. The carbon-centered radicals generated from UV/PAA showed strong reactivity to oxidize certain naphthyl compounds. The new knowledge obtained in this study will facilitate further research and development of UV/PAA as a new degradation strategy for water contaminants.

Oxidation of quinolones with peracids (an in situ EPR study)

4-Oxoquinoline derivatives (quinolones) represent heterocyclic compounds with a variety of biological activities, along with interesting chemical reactivity. The quinolone derivatives possessing secondary amino hydrogen at the nitrogen of the enaminone system are oxidized with 3-chloroperbenzoic acid to nitroxide radicals in the primary step while maintaining their 4-pyridone ring. Otherwise, N-methyl substituted quinolones also form nitroxide radicals coupled with the opening of the 4-pyridone ring in a gradual oxidation of the methyl group via the nitrone-nitroxide spin-adduct cycle. This was confirmed in an analogous oxidation using N,N-dimethylaniline as a model compound. N-Ethyl quinolones in contrast to its N-methyl analog form only one nitroxide radical without a further degradation.

Free radical reaction pathway, thermochemistry of peracetic acid homolysis, and its application for phenol degradation: spectroscopic study and quantum chemistry calculations

The homolysis of peracetic acid (PAA) as a relevant source of free radicals (e.g., *OH) was studied in detail. Radicals formed as a result of chain radical reactions were detected with electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance spin trapping techniques and subsequently identified by means of the simulation-based fitting approach. The reaction mechanism, where a hydroxyl radical was a primary product of O-O bond rupture of PAA, was established with a complete assessment of relevant reaction thermochemistry. Total energy analysis of the reaction pathway was performed by electronic structure calculations (ab initio and semiempirical methods) at different levels and basis sets [e.g., HF/6-311G(d), B3LYP/6-31G(d)]. Furthermore, the heterogeneous MnO2/PAA system was tested for the elimination of a model aromatic compound, phenol from aqueous solution. An artificial neural network (ANN) was designed to associate the removal efficiency of phenol with relevant process parameters such as concentrations of both the catalyst and PAA and the reaction time. Results were used to train and test ANN to identify an optimized network structure, which represented the correlations between the operational parameters and removal efficiency of phenol.